


L’appel Du Vide

by TheFoxConstellations



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) is Bad at Feelings, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) is In Denial About Deviancy, Connor (Detroit: Become Human)-centric, Daemons, Dehumanization, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Identity Issues, Jericho (Detroit: Become Human), M/M, Non Consensual Daemon Touching, Pairings undecided, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoxConstellations/pseuds/TheFoxConstellations
Summary: L’appel Du Vide —The call of the void.Coined by the French, it is used to describe that split-second desire to jump off a building. To endanger yourself.Androids don’t have daemons.Connor thinks, his eyes cast to the screen of the tv.The canary perched on the shoulder of the android begs to differ.“We are alive,” The android says, heterochromatic gaze staring back at Connor. His gaze is still piercing despite being muted through a pixelated rectangle.Androids don’t have daemons, Conner thinks again, desperately.
Relationships: Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson & Connor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	L’appel Du Vide

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t written a fanfic in forever, and I’ve never attempted to finish a multi-chaptered work but there’s a first time for everything. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

##  **New Company Cyberlife rises to fame with Creation of Androids**

**[2022] [June], [Cyberlife/Adam Blake/CBS] press conference transcript ([Hour (18)]:[Minute(30):[Second (00)-[Hour (20)]:[Minute(30):[Second (00))**

**[Blake]:** So, Elijah, your company has grown immensely in the past months after the news report released. You created an android that passed the Turing Test, right? How does it feel?

 **[Kamski]:** I’m proud, of course. Chloe is arguably my entire life’s work. Like a manifestation of a dream from my childhood.

 **[Blake]:** Oh? You’ve thought of creating androids for that long?

 **[Kamski]:** (Kamski chuckles, leaning back in his chair with a smile.) Creating androids, it’s like creating life itself. I’ve had that goal in mind since I was a young boy. I wanted to make them like humans, and maybe even beyond that.

 **[Blake]:** Like humans? One of the starkest features of androids is the fact that they don’t have daemons. How do you feel about this?

 **[Kamski]:** (Kamski pauses slightly.) It does seem unnerving, doesn’t it?

**[vasthorizons]** replied

[he totally avoided that last question]

-

 **[avoidace]** replied

[chloe looks better than my grades!!]

-

 **[floggingfish]** replied

[why don’t androids have daemons tho?]

* * *

The empty room was barren of decoration, plain white, clean-cut, _empty_. Only a lone figure stood, blending in with the minimalistic theme of its surroundings. It stood still, frozen in a stasis stage, simply waiting to be activated. With a click of the lock, the door to the room opened. A man walked in. Pulling out a chair, he sat down. The only noise that echoed in the dull space was the clicking of keyboard noises emitting from the device within his grasp as he typed up a report. Finally, he looked up, leaning forward to wake up the figure before him.

“Commencing trial, now activating model prototype RK800-51.” The man spoke as he pressed the greyed LED on the side of the android’s head. The light flickered, first red, then yellow, until it settled into a soft electric blue.

**LOADING ALL SYSTEMS:**

**LOADING OS**

**BIOCOMPONENTS: OPERATIONAL**

**MEMORY REBOOT: INITIATED**

**SYSTEM RESET:**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**MODEL NUMBER: RK800**

**SERIAL: #313 248 317 - 51**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**CURRENT TIME: 18:23:14 EDT, August 14, 2038**

The words glittered across its peripheral as it took a step forward, gaze peering around the room. Brown irises settled upon a man, perched upon his chair with a tablet in hand. On his shoulder sat a monkey. The android took a step forward as it scanned the creature.

_Animal Identified: Ateles fusciceps_

_Commonly known as the Black-headed Spider Monkey. The genus name Ateles derives from the ancient Greek word ἀτέλεια (atéleia), meaning "incomplete, imperfect", in reference to the reduced or non-existent thumbs of spider monkeys._

“RK800, register command 3,” The man gestured vaguely as he spoke as if to prompt the machine into action.

“Registering command 3,” It replied, looking away from the animal and towards the man. “Model type RK800, serial #313 248 317 - 51. What is my name?”

There was a slight pause as the scientist looked up from his tablet to stare at the creation before him.

“Connor. Your name is Connor.”

It smiled back at him, social programming pushing the machine to curl its lips upwards, a hint of teeth and the lightened glimmer of excitement in its eyes.

“My name is Connor.”

* * *

Rain seeped into the sleeves of its coat as it walked down the street, the sound of drizzling buzzed in its ear. It didn’t mind the sound, the wet _splat_ of water droplets hitting the pavement. The smell of rain, fresh and clean, but not empty, rather the water contained a scent of minerals and bitter chemicals from the pollution of power-plants across the city. No, it did not mind this. This was better than-

It furrowed its brows, unable to stop itself from frowning softly. It could not prefer one thing or another, it was not made to prefer, it was made to adapt to the needs of those around it. It reached into the pocket of its coat for the familiar weight of a coin. The sounds of metal being tossed were detected by its ears, biocomponents 346. It continued to walk down the street, footsteps echoing lightly against the wet pavement. A car sped by, illuminating the sidewalk in a pale sickly light. The android stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light of the sign to change from a red hand to the white light of a walking symbol. As it stood there, its gaze strayed to the bar across the block. In the darkness of the late-night, the flickering sign seemed more prominent. A vivid contrast against the shadows curling around the building. _JIMMY’S BAR_ , the sign read, in a sans-serif font.

The light of the crosswalk sign changed, from the red hand to the walk symbol and it strode forward. Coming to a stop before the bar, it flicked the coin around between deft fingers, listened to the clear _cling_ of metal before tucking the coin away into the pocket of its coat once more. It scraped a fingernail against the letters engraved into the quarter. The design was just as imprinted into its mind as it was on the metal.

_United States of America ._

_In God We Trust._

_Year of Issue: 2020_

_Design: Salt River Bay_

_Composition: 91.67% Cu, 8.33% Ni_ -

The recollection of the quarter’s design was cut off by the notification of a reminder to address the case assigned. It blinked rapidly at the sudden bombardment of messages before it walked forward, slowly and steadily as it pushed the door open, the _‘No Androids Allowed’_ sticker went ignored. A careful look inside told it of the wary - _resentful_ eyes of the patrons. Animals of all sizes hidden within the shadows, slinking around in suspicious manners.

_FIND LT. ANDERSON_

The command spurred it into action from where it had paused at the doorway when the eyes of the customers seemed to glare at its existence.

Glancing around, the facial scans of customers it could catch within its peripheral were no match to the person it needed to find. It stepped around a man who’d been stumbling his way out the door until it reached the bar. Leaning forward, it caught a glimpse of the face of a man hunched over a chair. Below the stool, a stout animal snuffled around, muzzle pressed to the scuffed floorboards.

_Animal Identified: Taxidea taxus_

_Commonly known as the American Badger. The American badger is a member of the weasel family, though it has often been mistaken as a rodent. The word "badger", originally applied to the European badger (Meles meles), originated from bageard (16th century), which presumably referred to the white mark borne like a badge on its forehead. Another synonym was bauson 'badger', a variant of bausond 'striped, piebald', from Old French bausant, baucent._

A scan of the creature gave a brief identification of its species. The android watched the animal, taking in the sight of long nails and the white strip of fur across the badger’s face. The National American Daemon database held a record of Lieutenant Anderson’s settled daemon to be an American badger.

_29%_

_SYNC IN PROGRESS_

_SYNC COMPLETE_

_58%_

_COLLECTING DATA_

_79%_

_PROCESSING DATA_

_100%_

_MATCH FOUND_

_Lieutenant Hank Anderson_

_Born 09/06/1985_

_Daemon: North American Badger_

_Criminal Record: None_

“Lieutenant Anderson, My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife,” Connor paused for a second, peering closely at the man for any reaction before it continued on with a tilt of its head. “I looked for you at the station but nobody knew where you were. They said you were probably having a drink nearby. I was lucky to find you at the fifth bar.”

“What do you want?” The man grumbled, clearly annoyed. He didn’t bother to lift his head up, his face still cast to the glass between his hands.

As the android continued to speak, the man seemed to grow increasingly irritated. It was...unexpected. The Lieutenant did not seem to have any reason for biases against androids, the machine could not find any suitable explanation for the drunken man’s animosity. He had not been affected in any manner by the increasing use of androids in the workforce, nor had he ever been a victim of the recent criminal cases involving androids.

“So just be a good lil’ robot and get the fuck outta here,” The man slurred slightly, waving his hand in obvious dismissal. His eyes had fallen closed as he sighed into his glass.

Unfortunately for him, Connor was not easily dissuaded.

“I’ll buy you a drink for the road,” It spoke gingerly, pressing a bill onto the wood of the counter and sliding it towards the bartender. “Bartender, the same again, please.”

The said bartender turned to pour another glass of whiskey into the empty cup before the lieutenant. The amber substance sloshed lightly as it was spilled into the glass. Connor tilted its head once more as it watched the Lieutenant drink with an attentive expression on its face, an eagerness to work as earnest as a rookie detective.

As the man downed the cup with a look of resignation, he finally turned to look the machine in the eyes.

“Did you say homicide?”

He stood up, brushing off invisible dust from his jacket as he strode towards the door. The badger followed closely behind him, lumbering about in a manner that seemed quite clumsy. The door swung open as the lieutenant turned down the street to the direction of where his car had been parked. Closely behind him, the android trailed his steps. As he pulled the car door open, the badger shuffled into the backseat. Long nails scrabbled against the car’s floor and broke the amicable white noise of the rainfall.

Connor paused for a moment, unable to discern whether it would be allowed to follow the lieutenant.

“Well? The fuck are you waiting for?” The grizzled man scowled at it, gesturing to the passenger seat. “Get in.”

* * *

The darkness of the streets only made the glare of flashing lights more vivid. The bright intensity of red and blue, police cars parked to the side of the street, made Connor avert its gaze as it opted to stare at the building that housed the crime scene. It leaned forward from where it sat in the passenger seat, curiosity imminent on its facial features. There was a crowd of people, pressing against the bright yellow tapes that stretched around the front lawn. As the car came to a stop, the Lieutenant lowered the volume of the speakers until the only noise that could be heard was the faint murmur of the people and the rhythmic thrum of the windshield wipers stroking away rain droplets from the front window.

“You two wait here, I won’t be long.” The Lieutenant told it gruffly, yanking the key from his car as he opened the door. In response, the android nodded along, amiable. Behind him, the badger made some sort of noise, snuffling about in a lazy, almost lax mood.

“Whatever you say, Lieutenant.”

“Fucking-A-whatever I say,” The man scowled back at it, the door shut behind him with a loud slam. The android listened to the click of the car lock before a notification appeared.

_CONFLICTING ORDERS_

_SELECTING PRIORITY_

_**FOLLOW** LT. ANDERSON_

It sat there for a moment until it unlocked the passenger door and followed the path the lieutenant had carved between the throngs of people. A glance back told it that the badger had fallen asleep, turned on her side as she napped away in peace. It didn’t seem too perturbed by the noise of the people, nor the flashing lights and sirens. Connor gave it one last look before it continued down the street. Just before it could duck under the yellow security tape, a police assistant android stopped it from entering with a lift of the arm to cover Connor’s path.

“Androids are not permitted beyond this point,” The other told it in a firm tone, empty gaze staring back at Connor’s. Connor peered over its shoulder, the investigative android’s attention was clearly on the crime scene rather than the one it was making before the crowd.

Hank looked over his shoulder with a grimace before he waved his hand.

“It’s with me,” he called out, an eyebrow raised at the ironic sight. An android that would not allow another over the property line… because androids weren’t permitted in a crime scene.

The android retracted its arm, allowing Connor to walk forward until it came to a stop beside the Lieutenant.

“What part of ‘stay in the car’ didn’t you understand?” The Lieutenant sneered at it.

“Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant.” Connor attempted to reason.

The man huffed, clicking his tongue in irritation as he moved to shoulder past the android. He bumped into the machine, roughly brushing past as he shrugged.

“You don’t talk, you don’t touch anything and you stay outta my way, got it?” He ordered, making his way to the front door.

“Got it.” Connor reasoned, trailing after the man once more.

As the pair entered the house, Connor heard the man engage in a conversation with the detective who’d been waiting by the porch. Collins’ daemon was registered as a labrador retriever, good-natured, or as others would dare to say, simple-minded. It was likely waiting back in a police cruiser, as daemons were usually prohibited from entering crime scenes in fear of accidentally tampering with evidence unless the daemon had exceptions that would allow it to help sort through a crime scene. Such exceptions were given to animals with abilities that would allow it to chase down a criminal, find evidence, etc.

“How’s Lennox?” Connor’s audio components picked up the conversation from where it stood in the kitchen, closely observing the missing knife on the rack. Lennox had been the name on the national database, registered under the file of Lieutenant Anderson’s settled badger.

“Ah, you know her. Same old, same old, lazy and sleeping all day long.” Hank grumbled though the tone of affection could be heard plainly in his voice. It was clear that despite his words, he didn’t seem to mind the apparent sloth-like attitude of his daemon.

As the two continued to speak, the android wandered around the living room. It came to a stop at the stains on the floor of the carpet. The knife didn’t seem to have any fingerprints, an indicator of android involvement. Even more so, the font painted above the victim was written perfectly, every character evenly spaced out. It was as if the words were printed on the wallpaper, with the blood as ink.

Kneeling down, Connor swiped a finger against the blade of the knife before it brought the substance up to its lips. 

_COLLECTING SAMPLE_

_SYNC IN PROGRESS_

_SYNC COMPLETE_

_PROCESSING DATA_

_Sample: Dried Blood_

_DNA Analysis: Ortiz, Carlos_

_Sample date: 19 days_

The android pulled a packet of tissues from the pocket of its coat to wipe off the rest of the sample before it traced back its steps towards the hallway. It came to a stop before the bathroom and stepped inside with a cautious glance around. Pulling back the shower curtain in the grimy room, Connor found symbols carved into the wall. 

_RA9_

Its eyebrows furrowed as it tried to process the sight, a scene of obsession and possible worship, judging by the statue left on the tiles. Was this some sort of shrine? There were tools left beside the statue, it seemed as if the figurine had been carved by hand. The detectives on sight seemed to be more preoccupied with the other rooms, none of them had passed by the rest of the house, their attention was drawn towards the grisly corpse left in the living room and the smears of blood in the kitchen. 

Connor continued its path down the hall before it came to a stop at the back of the house, the metal creaked as it took a step past the rusted doors. The only footprints that its processors could detect were that of Officer Collins’ shoes from when he’d wandered around the building whilst waiting for the Lieutenant. 

The machine’s auditory processors detected the sound of footprints coming down the hall.

“The door was locked from the inside,” Hank suggested as he came to stop beside the android. He leaned against the metal door frame, staring down at the backyard. “The killer could’ve escaped this way.” 

“There are no footprints beside Officer Collins’.” Connor watched a droplet slide down from the roof before it hit the porch with a _splat._ “This type of soil would have retained a trace. The killer didn’t escape this way or we would have seen their tracks.” 

It turned to look at the Lieutenant before it shifted past the man to walk back inside. Did the deviant go out of the front door? No one had reported seeing anyone enter or leave the building in weeks. Unless it had escaped at night when no one was awake to watch. Connor took another glance around, from the path made by the upturned chairs of the kitchen to the bat that laid on the floor of the living room carpet.

Its simulation software seemed to gather enough data to recreate an accurate scene. 

Connor watched the models in its program stumble from the kitchen to the living room, the holographic knife splattering the bloodstains across the carpet.

“Lieutenant,” It called out carefully, the man in question grunted in response. “I think I have an idea of what happened.”

Hank leaned against the wall, staring at the android with slight curiosity.

“Oh yeah? Go on, I’m all ears.” He drawled, rolling his eyes.

Connor stood taller before it gestured to the metal bat on the floor. The weapon laid scattered, another sign of a messy struggle. To the human eye, it seemed dry, though the android’s visual units were able to detect dried thirium on the surface of the metal.

“I believe the victim attacked the android with the bat,” It spoke, before it walked forward to point at the missing knife from the rack. “The android fought back with a knife.” 

“So it was defending itself,” Hank stood up from his position to follow along with Connor’s explanation. “Then what happened?”

“The victim fled to the living room,” The pair followed the trail of bloodstains as they came to a stop besides the body. Hank grimaced at the sight of the flies swarming the corpse, a thick cloud of darkness. “Where the android killed the victim.” 

“Your theory isn’t totally ridiculous,” The Lieutenant acknowledged with a nod before he frowned at the machine. “But it doesn’t tell us where the android went.” 

“The android was damaged by the bat, it lost some thirium,” Connor added, before the man cut it off.

“Some what now?” Hank asked him in confusion.

“Thirium, commonly known as Blue Blood. It powers the biocomponents of androids.” Connor answered, before it pointed to the bat. “Thirium evaporates after a couple hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye. My visual processors are able to detect traces, even if humans cannot see it.” 

It turned to look back at the Lieutenant before it glanced around the room.

“The android did not leave the house, there are no traces of thirium in the backyard nor the front.” With a pause, Connor leveled the man with a serious expression. “I will keep looking.” 

Hank didn’t answer, his darkened gaze simply watching the android do its job. Several of the officers looked as Connor carefully followed the miniscule traces of blue blood until it led to a stop before the attic. A vivid handprint, only visible to the machine, could be seen.

Connor gave the attic door one last look before it turned away to grab a chair.

“What are you doing?” Hank called out to it, before it blinked at him with a guileless expression.

“I’m going to check something.” It assured the man, before it climbed up to open the attic. 

The room had not seen any attention in years, large clouds of dust fluttered, settling on Connor’s jacket and in its hair before it pushed itself up. The ceiling was not tall enough for Connor to stand to its full height, and it stood slightly hunched over as it began to walk forward. The wooden panels creaked under the android’s weight. There was a slight pause, before it caught sight of something moving and turned- 

The loud shriek of a bat, shrill and panicked, pierced its audio components as it stumbled back.

On instinct, it lunged out to grab the fluttering shadow covering its vision. 

“Stop!” A voice called out, the android, the suspect. 

There was a crunch of something soft in Connor’s grasp, the cracking of bone as the bat screamed. One of its wings was broken.

“Stop, please, don’t hurt him. He’s harmless,” Connor pulled the bat away, holding the daemon in its grasp as the android across from him begged. 

“What the fuck.” It could hear Hank rasp from behind it. “Let it go,” Hank stalked forward, having come running up when the officers had heard the commotion going on. 

The man gripped Connor’s wrist, tight and unyielding, until Connor’s grasp on the bat had loosened. 

The HK400 stumbled forward before it snatched the bat, cradling the daemon in its arms. 

“Jesus Christ,” Hank spat, shoving Connor back. “You don’t do that to a daemon. Fucking asshole.” 

Even with the cuffs clicking around the wrists of the HK400, the machine continued to coo down at the daemon in its hands. The animal had begun shivering and squeaking, the police officers gave it a look of pity. 

Out of the corner of its eye, Connor could see them staring at it with slight disgust.

It had succeeded in catching the deviant. Why was everyone angry? 

_What had he done wrong?_

* * *

[from: Jonathan T. Parks, _Androids: The Absence of a Soul, Humanity’s Mockery_ (HarperCollins, 2023), pp. 74-77.]

###  **_CHAPTER III_ **

**_Daemons and the Inner Soul_ **

Much discussion has circled around the topic of daemons. The first confirmed daemon dates back to nearly 35,000 years ago. Records of daemons have been hard to collect, due to the fact that daemons often fade when their human host passes away. Therefore, unlike other animals, daemons do not leave a trace of their existence. Adding to the difficulty of maintaining records, as a representation of the soul, daemons do not require sustenance nor other needs of a living creature besides the proposed theory that they must reside in their “domains.” Domains are simply that of the environment a daemon needs in order to live. For example, an aquatic daemon requires a domain that fulfills its physical needs, one that provides water for it to live in. 

[...]

Androids have been noted to be lacking daemons. Since the first android released to the public under the company, Cyberlife, every production line has lacked daemons. Many have proposed the thought of manufacturing a daemon for each android, however, Cyberlife has released a statement (Willams 23), claiming that androids have no need for daemons and such a project would be a waste of resources. The question that should be asked is not whether an android deserves a daemon, but rather, why would they need one? 

**[antaticc]** commented

[cyberlife refusing to make daemons for androids is kind of sad]

-

 **[ldowtin]** replied

[isn’t it scary though? they seem so human but they don’t have daemons]

-

 **[deciteska]** commented

[theyre just like animals. dogs dont have daemons so its not that bad that androids dont either. all they have is a human face but theyre not alive.]

* * *


End file.
